FERTILITY treatment pioneer Robert Winston has criticised IVF clinics after a Sunday Express investigation discovered they routinely reject donor eggs from women with bipolar disorder, despite no Government ban.

The distinguished professor told clinic bosses if they were refusing to accept donations based on the “fear” that bipolar was hereditary, they were wrong.

“I would have thought it perfectly reasonable for somebody with bipolar disorder to donate an egg,” said Lord Winston. “This is not a genetic condition; there is no evidence that it is an inherited condition. In fact, all the evidence points to the fact that it probably isn’t.

“I have quite a lot of evidence to suggest that things which may happen to people in their very early childhood may predispose them to bipolar disorder but I would not have a problem myself about offering a patient a donated egg from somebody with bipolar disorder.

"In fact, I would remind them that some of the greatest geniuses in the world have been bipolar. If you take music, for example, there is no question that Tchaikovsky, Schumann, probably Chopin and other great musical geniuses were bipolar.

I would remind them that some of the greatest geniuses in the world have been bipolar

Robert Winston

“It is also true of literature and painting and I have seen a number of scientists whom I think are probably bipolar as well. It often goes with high intelligence and sometimes bipolar people are particularly gifted in their artistic and imaginative processes.”

The professor’s comments came after mental health researcher Sarah Mitchell, who is bipolar, contacted several clinics offering to donate her eggs.

She initiated the project after a discussion with friends considering IVF in which all said they would be reluctant to accept her offer. Ms Mitchell, 27, felt the attitude went to the heart of the taboo about mental health and in particular bipolar.

She suspected that while many people claimed to have enlightened and accepting attitudes towards mental health when it came to one of the most searching questions of all, procreation, feelings were more complex. She said she was effectively asking: “Would you be happy having children with me?”

Guidelines from the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority state donor eggs must not be selected where “they are known to have a particular gene, chromosome or mitochondrial abnormality that, if inherited by any child born as a result of the donation, may result in that child having or developing a serious physical or mental disability”.

Asked to clarify the policy, a spokesman for the HFEA said: “There’s no outright ban on people with bipolar donating. It is down to the clinics.”

However, none of the clinics contacted by Ms Mitchell said they would accept her eggs. One, Care Fertility, which describes itself as Britain’s biggest independent IVF treatment centre, told the Sunday Express that not only did it have an outright ban on bipolar donors, it would also carry out extra screening on anyone whose “first degree or distant relatives” had the condition.

Mental health advocate Sarah Mitchell

CASE STUDY: Writer and businesswoman Sarah Mitchell, 27, is a passionate advocate for mental health and tell us of her struggle with irrational prejudice:

I am 27, I run my own business, I know enough random facts to get into the top three of any pub quiz and I would never “rite lyk dis”. I am fairly normal. Did I mention I am bipolar?

For the record, I am not likely to strip naked and stab people on a whim. I am actually (shock, horror) just like you.

I do not have children just yet but I would want to help those who might want them. That thought is priceless to me.

I spoke to my friends, including those looking into IVF, and offered to donate an egg. Alas, as much as they accepted me as a person they would not want my offspring and for one reason only: they would not want a child who was “mentally unstable”. Ouch.

So this got me thinking: what do others think about bipolar? Would others reject my eggs on the basis of my label?

With long waiting lists on the NHS can we afford to reject such offers? Like many conditions there is a spectrum of severity and I by no means consider myself “disabled” or “seriously ill” in any way.

As for the hereditary argument, my father also has bipolar although far more seriously. Scientists debate a nature versus nurture argument and factors in my childhood may have contributed to my condition. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

All the IVF agencies I called were happy to hear from me, praising my goodwill and selflessness... until I mentioned the B word. Then they did not even get to my family history to make an informed decision. The lines practically went dead, “Err, thanks anyway though.”

They practically hung up on me. It was hurtful. I felt rejected, humiliated. Most would not even consider you if you were depressed.

“I’m sure you understand,” they added because, obviously, I must be used to doors slamming in my face due to my “disability”.

I wondered if they would do the same to Catherine Zeta-Jones and Carrie Fisher, or have done to Vivien Leigh and Marilyn Monroe. I felt like an old kettle being told I am broken and disposable.

Despite society’s insistence that “times are changing” and stigmas are disappearing I cannot help but feel it is a ridiculous ruse.

When push comes to shove I fear the underlying issues still stand and, in some minds, sterilisation is probably the best thing I could do. People “like me” should accept we are merely faulty products and are no use for, well, anything.

I find that incredibly sad and all the more reason to make a stand against such stigma.